A news anchor has been accused of cheating after a half-naked woman was seen in the background of his video broadcast
- A Spanish news anchor was accused of cheating on his girlfriend when a half-naked woman was spotted in his background during a broadcast.
- Alfonso Merlos was reporting via a video call from home during the coronavirus lockdown.
- Viewers saw the woman, who appeared to only be wearing a bra, walk past behind him.
- Some realized it wasn't the woman he is known to be publicly dating — Marta López.
- Merlos claims he is innocent because he and López broke up, but López claims they only had an argument.
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A Spanish news anchor has been accused of cheating on his girlfriend thanks to a home broadcast that went awry.
Alfonso Merlos was reporting for Javier Negre's Youtube show "Estado de Alarma" from his home via video call, and viewers spotted something strange in the background.
A woman who appeared to only be wearing a bra walked behind Merlos in view of the camera. It's quite an embarrassing mistake, but with everyone working from home right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, it's also an understandable one. A news reporter did appear on live TV in his underwear not that long ago, after all.
However, things took a dramatic turn when people realized the woman in question wasn't former Big Brother contestant Marta López, who Merlos was known to be publicly dating.
She was identified as journalist Alexia Rivas by a fellow reporter at Socialité, according to Spanish publication Sàlvame. Rivas is calm, a friend told the publication, but she spent the whole day crying when the news started to spread.
The publication also reported that López saw the broadcast, and said, "I can't believe it," and called the situation "a nightmare."
Merlos addressed everything on "The Ana Rose Show" on Monday, Metro reported. He said he and López were actually no longer together when Rivas was spotted in his house.
"If you think that my attitude has not been correct or that there are things that I have not done well, I have no problem asking for forgiveness, although my goal was not to harm someone else," he said.
Rivas also claimed the pair had broken up in an interview with Socialité, and that she was now in a relationship with Merlos.
López then appeared on the talk show "Viva la Vida" where she put forward her side of the story. She said she had not been talking to Merlos for four days because of an argument, but they had made up. She also said Merlos said he wanted to marry her and they had been living together for the first few weeks of lockdown.
She then said she had proof Merlos had been "fooling around with" Rivas since January, and Rivas had told Merlos to be with her instead.
Whatever the truth, the aftermath of a simple webcam faux-pas was certainly dramatic. And it's a good lesson to notify everyone in your house before you start live-broadcasting to the world.
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